


Spooky Squad, Assemble!

by E_Salvatore



Series: Tagged: TBTP Tumblr Fics [5]
Category: Tanis (Podcast), The Black Tapes Podcast
Genre: Gen, Lia Haddock (mentioned), Limetown - Freeform, Tumblr Fic, please take this as God meant for it to be taken: complete and utter crack, podcast crossovers!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 16:37:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5832859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/E_Salvatore/pseuds/E_Salvatore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at what happened when the PNWS office threw a Limetown listening party, and a follow-up that finds Alex and Nic joined by familiar faces as they form their own search party for Lia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Limetown Listening Party

 

 

> **L:** Did you hear? Someone’s offering to tell me everything! Only catch is that it has to be live but I finally got Gina to sign off on it. I can’t believe this is happening. Make sure you tune in tomorrow!   
>  **A:** Of course! The whole office will be listening tomorrow. Lia, you’re about to solve the biggest mystery of the 21st century! I’m so proud of you. Drinks on me next time we meet. Be careful tomorrow, okay?   
>  **L:** Okay, _Mom_. See you soon! 

 

 

 

Alex has never seen the conference room this packed, but she can understand why. It’s no exaggeration to say that Limetown is one of the biggest mysteries of the century and today, it might finally be solved. Pride swells in her heart as she thinks of Lia and how far she’s come from the young intern Alex first met all those years ago.

“Guys!” Nic raises his voice to be heard over the din of excited chatter and wild predictions. His laptop sits on the table, hooked up to the best speakers they have. “It’s starting!”

The room falls silent immediately as everyone takes their places.

In the very last second before Lia’s voice reaches her ears, a chill runs down Alex’s spine and she shudders, her entire body frozen over with the feeling that something is about to go really, _really_ wrong.

But then Lia is talking and checking in with Mark and approached by an unnamed woman, and Alex pushes all other thoughts out of her mind.

.

.

.

Twenty minutes later, she’s shaking and Nic’s frantically trying to call Lia and the entire office is in chaos.

* * *

 

[Based on this post.](http://eleanor-3.tumblr.com/post/138019977387/a-pnws-production-in-collaboration-with-apr)

 

 


	2. Spooky Squad, Assemble

 

> **ALEX & NIC:**

It takes less than two days for the higher-ups to sign off on their request to go on hiatus and find Lia. The words _she’s one of ours!_ get tossed around a lot - mostly by a persistent Alex, occasionally by a pleading Nic and eventually, by their resigned producers who can see that there’ll be no talking them out of this. 

They’re given instructions to get in touch with Mark, Lia’s producer, and start their search from there. Preparations are made for a leave of absence, and they range from Nic adding a last-minute message to this week’s TANIS to PNWS and APR making arrangements to work together and provide Alex and Nic with every possible resource – things like the tapes Lenore Dougal sent over, Lia’s notes on her investigation, insider contacts she and Mark fostered during the course of the show… and more practical things, like a budget that should cover wherever this takes them, necessary equipment to document their search (it doesn’t feel right, but they’re not given a say in this) and a team waiting back at APR to help them whenever necessary.

Now there’s only one thing left to do.

“A delay?”

“Yes,” Alex finds herself fidgeting under Strand’s watchful eyes. “I know it’s very sudden and I can’t expect you to stick around in Seattle while I’m gone – I mean, I’m not asking you to. You should go back to Chicago. I’ll call you when all of this is over to see if you’re still available for the next season?”

“Alex,” Strand sighs. “The show is no trouble at all, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out. But are you sure you want to do this? I understand that she’s your friend but take a closer look at anyone who has ever been involved with Limetown and you’ll find a very disturbing pattern.” He actually sounds worried for her. Hell, she’s worried for herself, and for Nic. Who knows what they’re getting themselves into? But above all, she’s worried for Lia – worried and scared and a million other things Alex can’t let herself feel right now because Lia’s screams for help still ring in her ears and it’s all too much.

She musters up a smile for Strand. “I’ll be fine.”

And it’s not like he can stop her, so he does his best to make things easier by telling her not to worry about the show, assuring her that he’ll be there when she comes back and reminding her _seven_ times that he’s only a phone call away. 

That night, Alex and Nic hop on a plane and head for APR’s headquarters to begin their search for Lia.

 

 

 

 

> **STRAND:**

The first time Strand calls to check on her, she misses four calls in a row and he sounds uncharacteristically frantic when she calls back. Things only get worse when she apologizes and tells him that her phone had been on silent while she and Nic explored the abandoned Limetown settlement… in the dark. 

He calls again two days later, and she breathlessly tells him it’s not a good time and she’ll call back,  _promise_. One hour later, Alex is telling him all about the man who showed up and started banging his head on her door while he screamed out warnings, and the suspicious van that started tailing them after Nic suggested that they ditch the quiet motel near Limetown and head for somewhere less isolated.

The third time he calls, Strand makes it known that he intends to join them and his decision is final, because clearly the two of them need someone to stop them before they get themselves kidnapped. (He finally gets Alex to cave when he tells her that at this rate, she’s bound to give him a heart attack over the phone.)

“Look, think of it as a purely selfish act on my part,” Strand suggests after they’ve reached an impasse. “If I’m there to watch you two get into trouble, then I won’t risk having a heart attack when I hear you tell me about these things over the phone.”

Alex sighs and tells him to get his things together, they’ll stop by in Seattle the day after tomorrow to pick up some forgotten things and a certain paranormal skeptic while they’re at it.

(“Of course you’d want in on this,” Alex mutters wryly. “It’s all advanced science and no mysterious shadows.” Strand merely offers her his familiar grin.)

 

 

 

 

> **MK:**

Nic gets a call moments before they’re set to leave.

“Nicodemus Silver, you fucking asshole! What the hell did you get me into?”

“MK?” Nic asks hesitantly. “What’s wrong?”

Turns out, what’s wrong is that ever since Nic sent her the Lenore Dougal files and asked MK to do some digging, she’s been followed around by unmarked vans and strange men. An hour prior to her call, three men had tried to kidnap her in broad daylight. Half an hour later, she returned home to find her apartment ransacked.

It’s not like they’re going to stop coming after her if she stops digging (not like she can send them a message saying _I’m out, bitches_ ), so MK insists that the safest thing to do is to join them on their little road-trip.

She meets them at the hotel Strand has just checked out from, and slides into the passenger seat with a cigarette in hand.

“I, um,” Nic stutters. “I didn’t know you smoke.”

MK flicks the burnt-down butt out of the window. “Two things happen when scary guys with guns and chloroform try to kidnap you,” She drawls. “One, you start fantasizing about the radio dude who’s paying you and the many ways you can murder him. Two, you start craving a cigarette for the first time since you were seventeen.”

Nic seems stunned into silence, so Alex speaks up from the backseat to introduce herself and Strand before grilling MK on possible breakthroughs and clues. When that proves fruitless, the car falls silent and Alex ends up dozing off with her head on Strand’s shoulder while the doctor himself stares out the window, lost in the passing scenery as it rapidly zooms by.

“You know, I always figured I’d end up on some sort of podcast rescue mission,” MK says after an hour of silence. “But I was pretty sure it’d be your ass I’d have to save.”

“Aw,” Nic grins, trying to keep his spirits up. “You’d try to save me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” MK snorts. “You’re terrible about paying me on time so yeah, I’d hunt you down to get my money.”

The smile slides off Nic’s face. “Right.”

In the backseat, Strand pretends he can’t hear their hushed conversation.

“So, what’s this all about? Two radio kids, whatever that guy is,” At least she has the decency to lower her voice, and Strand is too tired to call her out, “and… me. What are we, some sort of pre-Coulson ragtag group of Avengers?”

For the first time since she’s known him, MK watches Nic’s eyes cloud over with something dark as a sharp scowl cuts itself into his face and his fingers curl around the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turn white.

“There is nothing _to_ avenge,” He states. “We _will_ find Lia, and we’re going to do so before it’s too late.”

Alex stirs, shaking off the thick fog of sleep just in time to catch the tail-end of Nic’s proclamation as Strand abandons his scenery-watching in favor of her. She and Nic share a look in the rear-view mirror, something both of their companions know not to comment on.

“Okay,” MK declares, turning sideways to eye the both of them. “Let’s find Lia Haddock.”

And so the four of them drive off into the sunset to track down long-awaited answers to the Limetown mystery, shady independent contractors-slash-murderers-slash-kidnappers, and the two Haddocks at the center of it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've made it this far, please proceed to check-out to collect your 'AMAZING TOLERANCE FOR CRACK' pin. Thank you for choosing Podcast Trash Airlines. We hope to see you again.


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